Improvement in printing-telegraph apparatus



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE L. ANDERS, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR TO E. B. WELCH, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRINTING-TELEGRAPH APPARATUS.

v'Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,239, dated July 25, 1871.

operation of a telegraphic-printing apparatus employinga reciprocating type-wheel, and also to secure accuracy in the operation of the same; and it consists, first, in the combination, with the printing mechanism, of a magnet which is fully described in Letters Patent issued to myself and E. B. Welch, bearing date November l, 1870, said magnet being provided with a projecting armature-lever which operates two reciprocating A plates, said armature-lever being actuated by currents alternating in their direction in such manner as to revolve the type-wheel until the desired letter reaches the necessary position for printing, when, by sending an additional current in the same direction as the one preceding, the two plates are locked'together, and a press or paperholder located on one of them is brought in contact with said wheel, thereby causing an impression to be made on the paper. It also consists in providing the shaft of the type-wheel with a spiral spring, which is coiled up by the forward movement of the type-wheel, which spring, after each printing operation has been performed, forces the wheel back to a given position, from whence it is moved forward in selecting the next character to be printed, said characters being arranged on the periphery of the wheel, in the order in which they are most frequently used, nearest the point on which the wheel from which the forward movement of the same is commenced. It also consists of other details of construction, which, with the method of operation, will be more fully described hereinafter.

In the drawing, Arepresents the casin g of the instrument, in which is located the electro-magnet, which is shown and described in the application above referred to, said electro-magnet having a pivoted soft-iron armature, a lever of which projects upward through casing A, and is attached to sliding plate B, which plate is provided with a graduated slot or orifice, C. D represents which latter has its bearings on 'plate E. lever T serves to disengage pawl I from ratchet a lever or director, which is attached to a permanent magnet vibrating laterally between the poles of the electro-magnet, its lower end being pivoted so as to allow a longitudinal motion of the same. The upper end of director D projects through slot C, its Width being sufficient to lill the space between the wideend of said slot and the shoulders on the sidts of the same. E represents a plate located above plate B, both of which plates slide in grooved standards F, and are provided with orifices or slots, through which passes the standard I, on which the type-wheel G is located, said wheel being provided with a sleeve, H, which revolves on said standard, the latter being attached to casing' A. The sleeve H of wheel G is provided, near its lower end, with a ratchet, J, from the lower side of which projects a pin, z', which engages with a coil spring, K, which latter rests on the surface of and its eX- tremity is attached to the casing A. L represents an arm, which projects from one side of sleeve H under wheel G, and bears against pin M, which rises from plate E and arrest-s the backward motion of wheel G. N N represent spring-detents or catches, located in the path of the extremity of lever L, which detents arrest its backward motion at these points, from which a forward motion may be commenced. O represents a rectangular lever, which is pivoted to the upper side of plate B, and is provided with a tooth or pawl, o, which engages with the ratchet J. On the opposite side of plate B is a spring-pawl, P, sleeved to a standard, R, which rises from the casing A. The pawl P bears on the ratchet J and holds the same from revolving backward, and has attached to it the arm S, which engages with tooth U on lever T, The

J by the returning motion of the plate E; said lever also engageswith a pallet, V, which is fixed to plate B and projects upward through plate E. W represents a pallet, which projects from casing A through a slot in plate B, as shown in Fig. 3. X represents a plate or guide, which is pivoted on the lower side of plate E, near the outer end of the saine, as shown in Fig'. 2. The guide X projects over the wide end of slot C diagonally. Y represents a standard or press, which rises from the frontend of plate E, and is provided with a curved plate, Z, which has an orice, a, which orifice is directly opposite the typewheel Gr. b represents a rectangular lever, which is pivoted to casing A at one side of plates B E, one of its ends projecting over plate E and being confined between two projecting pins on the saine, as shown in Figs. l and 2. 0n the other end of lever b is a pillar or standard, c, having an arm, d, between which and the lever b is pivoted a clamp, c, one edge of which is serrated and is caused to bear against the pillar c by spring g;

this device constitutes a feed for the paper. j'

represents asimilar arrangement, located at one side of leverb on casingA. h It represent springs, which bear against the rear ends of plates B E. The characters on the type-wheel are arranged in the order in which they most frequently occur in printing, and are presented in this order by one or more detents, N N M. It has been found that the letters e t a i o n s are u sed oftener than any others in the alphabet, and these are accordin gly placed first iii order, nearest the press. Following tliese are the remaining letters of the al pliabet, arranged thus: h r d l u c f g ni p b k v j w y x Z q. Next in order are the numerical characters, l 2 3 et 5 o 7 8 9 l), and lastly the fractions, g -g This order of fractions it is not necessary to strictly adhere to, as any desired order may be employed; but the grouping of the characters and order of letters on the wheel are found to greatly expedite the printing operation in connection with the mechanism herein described.

A vibratory inotion is imparted to the armature ofthe electro-magnet in the usual way, and a reciprocating motion is thus imparted to the plate B, the lever O of which, iii moving forward, leaves the contact with a projection on the lower side of plate E, and is swung inward by a spring, n, which bears against the saine, its tooth o engaging with the ratchet J and imparting a partial revolution to the saine, together with the type-wheel G, until the notched end of lever O comes iii contact with the pallet NV, which stops the forward motion of plate B and type-wheel Gr, v

which plate is then forced back by its spring It, while the spring-pawl p engages with the ratchet J and holds the saine in the position in which it was left by the lever C). lt will now be seen that every forward motion of plate B imparts a partial revolution to the type-wheel Gr, each motion moving the saine forward in such manner as to bring a dilferent character opposite the press Y, which during this part of the operation remains stationary, the plate E not being moved. Meanwhile tlie director l) is vibrated across the slot C by transmitting currents alternating in their direction through the magnet, and in its vibration it is prevented from entering either side of thc recessed end of said slot by the pivoted guide plate X, which projects diagonally over the saine, as shown in Fig. Z; and, as the director swings across the slot, the projecting plate prevents it from entering either of the recessed sides, as above stated. At every forward motion of the plate B the outer end of slot U comes in contact with the edge of director l), and pushes the saine slightly forward, thereby swinging the guide X around, and causing its opposite corner to proj eet over the opposite recess of slot C just before the director vibrates backward, and prevents the saine from engaging with said opposite recess.

This operation goes on as long as the alteriiating currents are transmitted, which are continued until the type-wheel is adj usted for printing, when, instead of a current of opposite direction to the one preceding, one of the saine direction is transmitted, which forces the director D into one of the recessed sides of slot C, and the end of the recess, engaging' with the director, drives the plate E forward until the paper in the standard or press Y is pressed against the adjacent character on the type-wheel andV receives an iinpression ofthe same through an intervening ribbon of transferring-paper, which passes along with the iinpression-paper, as shown in Fig. l. At this stage of the operation, when the plate E has been moved forward to its utmost extent, the

tooth U of arm T passes by the end of arm S and en gages with the. same, said arm T being pressed outward by a spring 5 and after the desired inipression has been taken from the type-wheel the spring It forces the plate E backward, and the tooth of arm T, engaging' with arm S, throws the pawl l) out of connection with the ratchet J, (the pawl l and arm S being both sleeved together on standard R,) and allows said ratchet, together with the wheel Gr, to spring back to their `former position, where they are held by means of the arm L and pin M or detents N. When the plate E is moved forward to receive the impression on the paper the plate B also moves as in the first operation, and the tooth of lever O is prevented from engaging with ratchet J by the projection on plate E being carried with lever O, thus escapiii g a forward motion of the type-wheel, which is held in position by pawl l) in ratchet J. W hen the plate E is forced back by spi-nigh alever, T, disen gages pawl l) from ratchet J and allows the coiled spring to force back arm L to detents N N M, thus securing rapidity and accuracy in the selection of the characters on the type-wheel and in printing the same.

From the foregoing description it will be understood th at the type-wheel is revolved until the desired character is reached, the director meanwhile vibrating across its slot by the transmission of alternating currents, while, by the transmission of two currents in succession in the same direction, the type-wheel is held stationary, and the papeiis caused to bear against the type-wheel and receive the impression ofthe character thereon, after which. the type-wheel is released by the backward motion of plate E, which disengages the pawl l) from ratchet J, and caused by its spring K to resume its original position from whence it commences to revolve after every iinpressioii. By this feature and the peculiar arrangement of characters on the type-wheel a great saving of time is eifected in operating, as it is not necessary to effect an entire revolution of the type-wheel to secure a letter preceding the last one printed, which is the case in other instruments of this nature, wherein one wire only is employed and the type-wheel revolved in one direction.

The paper is drawn through the press by the feeding mechanism,'operated by the sliding of plate E, which swings the rectangular lever b.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of operating one or more telegraph-printing instruments in a circuit by the transmission of electrical currents alternating in their direction to secure the selection of a character on the type-Wheel, and subsequently taking an impression of the same by the transmission of a final, separate, and distinct current in the same direction as the one preceding, substantially as described.

2. The employment of one electro-magnet in a telegraph-printing instrument Whose electro-motive force is applied to the selecting or impressing parts of said instrument through the agency of a permanent magnet, When said permanent magnet does not control an electrical circuit, thus avoiding the use of an automatic polarized or other circuit-breaker, and insuring` a steady resistance in a circuit containing one or more instruments.

3. rlhe plate B provided with the graduated slot or orifice C, and the plate E provided With pivoted guide X, in rcombination with the director D, as and for the purposes'specified.

4. The plates B E provided With the rectangular lever O, pawl P, and arm T actuated by the vibratin g armature, in combination with the type- Wheel G having ratchet J, substantially as described.

.5. The type-Wheel G provided with arm L, in combination With one or more spring-detents or stops, N, operating, in connection with spring K, in such manner as to arrest the Wheel in its back- Ward motion and hold the same in any desired position, substantially as described.

v 6. The sliding plates B E, in combination With the rectangular lever p and pivoted feed-plates r, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEO. L. ANDERS.

-Vitnesses CARROLL D. WRIGHT, OHARLRs F. BROWN. 

